The Sun. — London, England, 1864-12-21 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence. The War Department transport Petrel left the Ordnance wharf, Chatham, yesterday, with 50 tons of solid 8-inch Armstrong 110 pounders and other shot, for the screw corvette Scout, 21, 400 horse power, fitting in the steam basin for the first divi sion of the steam reserve, in readiness for com• mission. The Scout has been fitted with a poop as well as with a topgallant forecastle, and she ie well forward with her fitments both inboard and aloft. It is expected that she will shortly hoist her pennant. Messrs. Taylor and Co., of the Britannia Irons works, Birkenhead, have commenced the erection of two of their largest portable steam cranes along side No. 2 dock at Chatham yard, to be used in lifting the 6-inch and other armour plates for en casing the sides of the Bellerophon, 14, 1,000 horse power, ironclad frigate, under construction in that dock. Each crane is capable of lifting a weight of 20 tons, but in order to prevent accidents 15 tons will be the maximum weight they will be used to raise. Four of the smaller steam cranes manufac tured by Messrs. Taylor tyre also in use alonksiac the Bellerophon dock. - Her Majesty's iron paddlewheel sloop Trident, 3 guns, Commander Charles Balfour, from the Medi terranean, was yesterday p aid out of commission at Woolwich. She was fitted out in that dockyard and commissioned in Jan., 1861, and has since passed an eventful term of service. One commander and one first lieutenant have been removed from the service one ran away from the ship; one paymaster and oae master were dismissed ; one surgeon was in valided ; and a chief engineer died. The vessel was considerably short of her complement on being paid off yesterday in consequence of a number of the crew, before leaving the station, having volun teered for continuous service in other ships in commission, and to which they were transferred. The total number mustered for the Commodore's inspection on her arrival at Woolwich was 89 of all grades. Commander C. Balfour was appointed to the command of the Trident in January, 1862. The ship's company on being paraded yesterday morning on the wharf to attend to the pay-table set up three shouts for the first lieutenant and three rounds of hieses for the commander,which were at once ezppressed by the officer in charge. Lieut. Dennistoun, who was promoted to first lieutenant, and who joined upon her being com missioned for service, yesterday received a strange testimonial. Personal manifestations in the shape of presents to officers being strictly against the rules of the service, the ship's company found out a way to carry out their designs without infringing the regulations. Accordingly a silver collar was pro vided for Lieut. Dennistoun's dog, oa which was engraved, " Presented to the dog Shot, as a mark of respect and esteem for his master.' The War department steamship Balaklava, Wil liam Pelatt, master, yesterday left Woolwich laden with guns and war stores for Davonport. She dis charged at the Royal Arsenal a cargo from Ports mouth, consisting of 110-pounder guns, brought to Woolwich for repair of ventpieces, tubes, platforms, carriages, and general stores,. and immediately come menced loading for Devonport. The Royal Alfred frigate remains with but few hands employed upon her in No. 3 dock at Parts month, and with the peocess cf plating still suspended no decisive instructions having been received in the yard as yet from the Admiralty as to the adoption of Rear-Admiral Elliot's plan for the eilip'a armour. We understand from the best authority that if the Royal Alfred is fitted with a turret-tower and built on the plan proposed by Rear-Admiral Elliot, that course will in no way prejudice Captain Coles's claim to have the turret principle fuiy tested in a seagoirg ship. Captain Coles, however, is no shipwright, and has, therefore, handed in to the Admiralty no model or drawings for a seagoing turret ship, which, if constructed, will most pro bably be designed for Capt Coles by the Chief Con structor's department, or one of Mr Reed's recently designed iron ships may be adapted for the purpose in accordance with suggestions from Capt. Coles. The iron frigate Achilles, Capt. E. Vansittart , 'weighed her anchor yesterd a y morn i ng at S p i thead, and" proceeded under easy steam to Cowes Roads, where she will remain during the stay of her Mas jesty and the Royal family at Osborne, or until relievsd by another ship. No orders have yet been received at Portsmouth relative to the Achilles' sub sequent movements ; but it is reported thatshe will make her first cruise under her present conditions of rig and draught of water, and with her four bleded Mangia screw. In a ship like the Achilles the E crew is a fieture, and the result of the screw being four bladed is that whenever she is under sail alone two of the screw blades must be standing out at right angles to the vessel's course, imped ing her way through the water and damaging her steering power. A trial of the Achilles at sea, however, with her four-bladed screw may furnish some very valuable data to the Chief Engineer of her Majesty's Navy; but to make the data still more valuable, the Achilles' second cruise should be made with our acknowledged best form of screw— the two-bladed improved Griffith. The blades could be fired in a vertical position when the ship is under sail alone, and would thus not impede the ship's way through the water or damage her steer ing properties. There is another and equally for cible argument for a trial of the two-bladed Griffith. It is that the Warrior's Griffith developed the full power of that ship's engines on her trial, while the Achilles' Mangin has not developed the full power of her engines; and yet both ships' en,. gines were made from the same patterns. Portsmouth dockyard will be closed for the Christmas holidays on Saturday, the 24th, and Monday, the 26:h inst. The Urgent, screw troopship, Captain S. H. Henderson, was taken out of Portsmouth harbour on Monday for a trial of her ma chinery, bat the trial failed owing to an unaccount able rattle and vibration attending the working of the screw. The Urgent has been again placed along side the dockyard, and her screw raised to enable the factory department to ascertain the nature of the defect and apply the necessary remark. Among other military changes about to take place, it is rumoured that Lieut.-Gan, Sir J. Y. Scarlett, K.C.Bi, and Major-Gen. Lord Wm. P Islet, C. 8,, are about to exchange positions. Lord Win. Paulet will go to the Horse Guards as Adjutant-General, and Sir J. Scarlett will assume the command of the south-west military district and the lieut..gover norship of Portsmouth. If this arrangement should be carried into effect Portsmouth and the southwest district will be raised from a major -general's to a lieut.-general's command, and Manchester and the north. west district will possibly at the same time be changed from a licut.-general's to a major-gencrars command. The following appointments have been made at the Admiralty :—Lieut. David Boyle and Lieut. C. Mason, to the Cadmus—Lieut. J. W. F. Harvey, Lieut. W. P. Barrow and Lieut. R. L. Byng, to the Excellent—Lieut. L. Geneste, to the Hibernia— Lieut. C. R. Maberiy, to the Irresistible—Lieut.W. ll.loger, to the Highflyer—Lieut. C. G. Jones to the Edgar—sub• Lieut. R.W. Evans, to the Victoria —sub-Lieut. Laurence A. G.Roberts, to the Cadmus —sub-Lieut. R. B. Wilkinson, to the Hightlyer— R. P. Rampage, IL A. K. Murray, M. M'Causland, and E. P. Brooks, midshipmen, to the Cadmus—J. Evans, N. T. W. de courcy, F. Coddington, and J. G. Master, midshipme; to the Hit , tilj er—L. M Kirwan, midthiPtilan, to the Duncan—Char:e3 R. Dawes and Herbert K. Reyl an d, midshipmen, to the Princess Charlotte— Geo.l3ediard, midshipman, to the Achilles—George W. Rill and Samuel H. Kay, naval cadets, to the Cadmus—Phitip IL Thro ming, naval cadet, to the Highflyer—p hiii P A. Parson, naval cadet, to the Duncan—John Pittis, paymast er , t o th e P r i nces s Charlotte, addition a l J, Martin, paymaster, to the E tcrl cnt— James 11. Andrews, paymaster, to the St. Vincent—Georg e H. L. Wise, paymaster, to the Irresistible—William Dewar, paymaster, to the Defence—George 11. Whitler, paymaster, to the 1) isher—John E. Skin ner, assist.-paymastur. in charge to the .Asia, for the Osborne—and Henry E. Whitley, clerk, to the Dlsher. The undermentioned gentlemen have been nomi nated to naval cadetships—Herbert It. Alt under, John D. II and Frederic B. Warren, Anthropological Society. At the ordinary meeting of this society yesterday evening—Captain Burton in the chair—there was a long and animated discussion, adjourned from the previous meeting, on the paper by Mr Lang respect ing his discovery of implements of the early stone period in shell mounds in Caithnese, together with skeletons found in kists,apparently of the same date. The dismission was opened by Dr J. Hunt, who ads verted to the vague manner in which the subject had been hitherto treated, by adducing general resem blances between the skulls found in Caithness and those of negros and Australians, and called attention to the points to which it was desirable to direct at. tention, with the view of ascertaining who were the primitive inhabitants of this island. Mr Higgins, Mr Mackenzie, Mr Carter Blake, Dr Miller, Mr M'Clay, Mr Prideux, Mr Reddie, Mr Bendyshe, and some other gentlemen took part in the discussion, which turned principally on the character of the skulls, the antiquity of the implements, and whether those ancient inhabitants of Scotland were canni bals. Mr C. Blake compared the skulls of those of other types, for the purpose of showing that they did not correspond with the skulls of negroes or Australians, and he was especially desirous to die. prove the opinion expressed by Professor Huxley at the last meeting of the Ethnological Society, that they belonged to what was called the " riverebed" class of skulls. The question of cannibalism was taken up rather warmly by Mr. M'Clay, a native of Caithness, who was anxious to exculpate his antes. tors from such a charge. He considered the fact of the finding of a single jaw -bona of a child among shells and bones, the refuse of food, was no proof of cannibalism; that it might have been gnawed by a wolf, or the child might have been murdered and her body thrown on the heap. Mr. Bendyshe quoted St. Jerome to show that the savages brought from the north of Scotland by the Romans preferred human flesh to that of oxen, and that there were certain parts of the body, such as the breasts, that they particularly relished as " tit bits." Capt. Barton said that his experience as a traveller taught him that cannibalism was a necessary state through which mankind must pass in their progress to civilisation. He was willing in consideration of the feelings of some gentlemen present, to except Caithness, but only Caithness. Mr LAING replied at considerable length to the various remarks made Gn his paper. First, as to the question of cannibalism, he inclined to think, from the circumstances in which the jaw of the child was found, that in that instance at least the body had been eaten; and he referred to the evidence of Pro fessor Owen respecting the manner in which the bone had been broken to extract the marrow, in confirmation of that opinion. Next, as to the cha racter of the skulls, they were d'fferent from those found in the Danish " kitchen middens," for the lat ter were round, resembling those of the modern Eequimaux, while those from the kists in Caithness were of an opposite character, and indicated a southern origin. The proof of the great antiquity of the people was to be seen in the extreme rudeness of the weapons found ins the kists and in the lowest stratum of shells. Those implements were of the rudest possible kind, and resembled some found in the kitchen middens of Denmark. In the museum at Copenhagen, the implements taken from the mid dens were classed in the order of antiquity according to the rudeness of their construction, and the most ancient exactly resembled those brought from Caith ness. Hs did not athibute very great antiquity to them, not equal to that of the implements found in geological deposits, but he thought they might be dated several hundred years before the Christian era. The thanks of the meeting having been accorded to Mr Laing, the meeting adjourned. The table was covered with the skulls, bones, .end implements extracted by Mr Laing from the 'sista and shell mounds of Caithness, and it was announced that he intends to have casts made cf the skulls, which he will present to the society, to be placed in their museum. STATISTICAL SOCIETY, At a meeting of this society held last evening— Colonel W. H. Sykes, 11(1.P., president, in the chair—the following gentlemen were elected fellows of the society :—P. Hill, T. Hudson, E. A. Hadley, H. W. Thompson, J. T. APnett, E. T. Blakely, W. H. Davis, Geo. Senior, H. Sutton, and F, P. Fallt;ws. Mr JAMES HEYWOOD read a paper upon " The Extension of Modern Subjects as a part of Regular Study in F. Inestianal Institutions.'' The author commenced by observing that, for the assistance of undergraduate studies at Oxford, an annual in come of nearly £22,000 a year is set apart from the college endowments. This large amount is distributed into about 360 scholarships, usually tenable for five years each, and of an average yearly value of £6) in each. case. Professor Faraday is opinion, Mr Heywood remarked, that one-fifth of the time which an individual devotes to study ought to ba devoted to the attainment of natural knowledge ; and assumi ng th a t conc l vs i on , we find that the proportion of one-sixth of the open scholarships of Christchurch which were reserved for the benefit of natural science by the Oxford Parliamentary Commissioners of' 1854, may be re garded as nearly representing the proportionate claims of that branch of knowledge on Oxford en dowments. It is to be regretted, however, that Christchurch's example has been bat little followed in this respect in other colleges. Mr Hey wood pro ceeded to show in some detail the present course of education at Eton, Rugby, at the Marlborough and the Wellington Colleges, end at some other semi. neries. He exhibited by means of a series of ssatiss tical tables the hours at which the students at each of these establishments have to devote to the differ ent branches of learning. A modern school has been established at Marlborough College specially to afford a systematic education in the different sub jects likely to be required in a public competitive examination either for civil or military service. Ito distribution of employment in regular school les% eons is exemplified in the following table from the appendix to the report of the Public School Cam mission. Wellington College has been arranged on a plan of the classes of boys in the older portion of the school being subdivided into a classical and a mathematical department. The follow:Pp, table il lustrates the employment of time in lessons at 11 7 e1 lingten College : —Modern languages, according to the head master of Wellington College, are decidedly popular subjects among the boys; and while " many enter the college firmly grounded in one or the other (French or German), many also, who have begun both langpges in college, are as forward as any boys, cacept those who have not only lived abroad, but - while abroad have been carefully taught." The Rev. J. It. Bright writes to the Public School Commissioners respecting the modern school in Marlborough College, " that if there were the same appliances for modern us for classical teaching, the same well annotated books, the same carefully arranged grammars, the same accepted curriculum of classical authors, an education might be given in modern as accurate as in ancient subjects; while in comprehensivness, in so far as it would ba con• cernod with the wider field of modern thought, it might even have the advantage." University Col. lege School, in Upper Gower street, London, is arranged so as to give considerable school-time to modern subjects. Its junior department, for boys from 7 to 9 years of age, has about 26 pupils. They have 221 hours of school work in a week, dAtri• buted as follows :—Arithmetic, 6; reading, spelling dictation, simple composition, repetilien of poetry, 13 ; French, 2 ; geography, 3 ; history, 11-; ob. jests, 1 ; writing, 4; total, 221. Mr. Hey wood concluded by stating that the prece dent of direct legislative interference with local statutes about scholarships was Ef t in 133 6, when religiou3 tests were removed from Cambridge C)11?ge exhibitions and scholarships, by the following clause of the Cambridge University -et :—" It shall be necessary for any person, on ob taining any exhibition, scholarship ' or other college Emolume nt evailablo ' for the assistance of an under graduate student in his ecademical education, to make or sn b 3 crihe any declaration of his religious opinion or belief, or to take any oath, any law or statutes to tho contrary notwi'Lhstandieg." Cum. bridge would probably be a suitable locality for a new college in which modern subjects should be SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 21, 1864. cultivated as part of the collegiate system, whilst the siudont would enjoy the advantages of that time , honoured university. Scholarships abound in the existing colleges of Cambridge, and their re distribution, so as to afford encouragement in a larger measure to modern subjects, would create a powerful influence in favour of modern languages and physical science over all the public schools of the country. shop after 11 o'clock that night, to ask whether the chew micals he sent were all right,but he did not see Mr Hughes. If Mr Crowther used all the mixture witness sent him (which with the p o und of manganese purchased at Mr Mottershead's, would weigh 811 b.) except that produced he used three or four times too much, Charles Holt, Mr Hughes's porter, said he served Mr Morgan's boy with the chlorate of potash and manganese on Saturday. He seat Gib of potash, because that was all they had in the shop. Ho took the manganese from a drawer in the shop which, when empty, was filled from a large tin kept upstairs. The manganese given to police. constable Davenport, and handed by him to Professor Roscoe, was taken from the same drawe r . N o thi ng bl ack, such as soot or lampblack, was added to th e manganese given to Mr Morgan's boy. Mr E. G. Hughes, flio volunteered his evidence, said that he was perfectly certain that nothing but manganese, the same as that supplied to the policeman for Professor Roscoe, was given to bfr Morgan's boy. He had no pow dered coal on his premises ; lampblack was both lighter in weight and more expensive than manganese, and as to soot he had not any.--The Coroner : Not in the chimneys ? Witness : No ; they were cleaned only last week, Witness added that he did not think he was accountable for the state of manganese after it left his shop, especially when it was not analysed till after the lapse of two days. After the examinations of Edward Wood, Mr. Morgan's boy, and police-constable Davenport, Mr Morgan, in reply to the Coroner, said, that the manganese ho received from Mr Hughes, and a portion of which was handed to Professor Roscoe, was not adulterated by him in the slightest degree. The room was then cleared, and after half an hour's con sultation the jury expressed a desire to see Mr Hughes. The Coroner told him that the jury considered it was proved that the explosive materials which had caused the deaths of Mr, Crowther and his eon had been supplied by him, and he cautioned him that if he had anything to say it would be written, and might be used against him. Mr Hughes re peated that it was tApossible anything could have been mixed with the manganese before it went out of his shop. The jury then briefly consulted, and returned a verdict of manslaughter against Kr Hughes, who was committed for trial at the assizes. Ihe coroner offered to take bail, which was furnished. ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE. MIDLAND CIRCUIT.—LEEDs, Dec, 19. (BeforeMr Justice Keating.) His Lordship atten4cd Divine Service yesterday morning at the parish church. In the early part of to-day his lord ship tried cases utterly devoid of public interest. Patrick Stenson and Joseph Smith were indicted for robbing Francis Cando of 7s Gd, at Leeds, on the 15th of October. Mr Bruce prosecutedi the prisoners were undefended. It appeared from theevidence that the prosecutor went on the 15th of October b the Fountain publichouse, in the Army-road, at about 6 eclock. At that time he was rather the worse for liquor. 'e found the two prisoners drinking at the bar with some Nv+men, all of whom were unknown to him. He told them thalhe lived in the Kindslc-road, which is about two miles fromthe publichouee. The two prisoners said that they were goht the same way, and that they were going to take a cab, aminvited the prosecutor to go with them. A cab was called, the prosecutor, the two prisoners, and two women got basks, and two other men got outside. The cabman was told todrive towards Leeds, which is in a contrary direction to thi prosecutor's house. When the prosecutor found this outh e tried to stop the cab, but soon after Stenson seized tilt prosecutor by the throat, and another man put his hant over his mouth to prevent him screaming. He was then bbbed Stenson soon after got out of the cab and pulled the lrosee,utor out after him; Smith jumped out the other side{ Th e p rosecu t o r cri e d ou t "Mur der," when a Mr liendalk-an to his assistance, and found him struggling on the grt un d with Stenson. smith then rushed at him, knocked bin down, and kicked him in the face. The jury found the prisilers guilty. A former conviction hali ng been proved against Smith, The learned Judge sentu e d him to 15 years' penal ser. vitude, and the prisoner Sknsoa to seven years' penal ser v;tude. Thomas Flint and. Willi Surridge were indicted for burglaricusly breaking intf the house of Mr Wilkinson, a mason, living at Bolton-sur_Deane. Mr C. Foster appeared for tho prosecution ; and Mr Waddy for the prisoners. The burglary was commkted with great violence, and the prisoners were guilty of greet brutality towards the prose cutor, and his housekeeper, the only inmates of the house, The prosecutor oa Thursday, the Bth of December, went to bed about 10 o'clock, havingexamieed the house. About 3 o'clock he thought he heard'it noise, so he lighted a candle and went down stairs, but finding all was secure he went to bed again. Five minutes after he heard a crash, so he got up again, and as he got to tie bottom of the stairs ho saw three men, one of whom he ;.lentified as the prisoner Flint. They Eeiz:d hold of him, aid told him they wanted his money and would have it. - due of them knocked him down, and held him by the throativith his head to the ground, and told him if he spoke hehvould cut his head off. His housekeeper, Emma Parkinon hearing ,the noise, put her head out of the window and save an alarm, whereupon the man who was holding the prosecutor told one of the pri soners to go up stairs and cut her throat. The two pi smers then went upstairs into the housekeeper's bedroom, Surridge, whom she knew b 1 sight, held her down on the bed while Flint ransacked her b.mes, lle then draggel her down stairs in her night dre#F, threw her down on the floor, and attemptel to ravighh.c. ,, T4as prisoner Surridge asked her where the money wag kept, and told her he would murder her in a few minutes if she did not tell hint, At last the two prisoners and the 'ether burglar were alarmed by some one throwing a stone through the windo.v, whereupon they left the house, Flint having taken £ll Gs Gd belong• ing to the prosecutor. Mr Waddy set up an alibi on Wulf of the prisoners, and said the pro.tecutcr was mistaken as to the prisonerp, The prisoners were respectively sentenced by his Lord ship to eight years' penal servitude, TuEspas, Dec. 20. (Before Mr JUsiice Keating.) Manasseh Hanson, a warp dresser, was indicted for the October last. wilful murder of David Armitag e, at - Bradford, on the 31 Mr V. Blackburn And I‘.lr,Laseelles conducted the prose prisoner. cu l t t io a n p — pe iN a l re r d C. fr F o o m ste t r h d e e e fe v n ici c . l e e n d , th e, - 0 tuat the prisoner and a young woman named Sarahlktson were going along Leo gram-lane, cn Monday night, the 3d of October' about 10 o'clock, when they met three men, named Joseph Fox,Geo. Dobson, and John Dobson. One of the men was walking in front quietly, the man F ox stood against the wall, an W a s in the road, an d o bli ge d Sarah Dobson and the prisone r t o pass between them. The anddp Johnass ed them pobson prisoner made some remark to Pox at not going into the road to let them pass. The three men soon after met the de ceased man, David Armitage,and told him to take care of the man with the woman, as -e weevery cross, Armitage, prisoner then s h outed out, " I will let thee ran at said as he him and struck a t his head. Armitage thou was Pasting, " W e ll, w h a t i s t o Vi cdc - o h o, daanes,d r , d drunk, shouted out, "Are you going to let him go?" whereupon Fox ran up to deceased and the tw6 Dobsons ran towards the prisoner. The prisoner shouted out that if any one touched him he would shoat...hirs, as he had a revolver, Fox on going up t o the deceased found him bathed in blood. A man named Denton heard the woman screaming, and ran, towards the spot, and asked the prisoner why he had stabbed the old man for," Then the prisoner r an h alo the road, and shouted, "I am ready for six. I hav e got a revolver; the first man who touches me I will shoot." The girl. Sarah Dobson,who is no relation to the men, gave rathe r a different account of the matter, and said that as se and the prisoner were walk ing. along Armitage pushed her off the path, and on the pri soner asking him why he had done it he threatened to knock his head off, and hit theprisoner, Manasseh Hanson, in the mouth, whereon A rm i tage was knocked down by- Hanson. The girl distinctly stated that she saw no weapon in the prisoner's hand, 'whereas George and John Dobson both stated that they saw the knife glitter as ho hit the de ceased. A knife was found in a field adjoining, which the surgeon stated would have produced the wound in the de ceased's head. Oa being apprehended the prisoner stated to the policeman that he had ncrkaifo, and never had one, and what he did was in his owti defence; and that if any ono used the knife it was the deceased, for his (the prisoner's) finger was bleeding. The surgeon was of opinion that the wound was the cause of the deceaseXa death. A policeman, who apprehended the prisoner stated that he was far from sober. The deceased died about one month after. It was stated by Mr Blackburn in his opening speech that if the prisoner unlawfully wounded David Armitage with intent to du him grievous bodily harm, and ho died in consequence of the wound, he was guilty of murder. Mr C. Foster contended, on behalf of the prisoner, that the deceased might have rad with the wound by tho fall, — Sarah Dobson said he had; that the facts show ho was ex cused in striking the deceased, as he had been grossly in sulted by the witnesses Dobson and Fox and the deceased; and that he was justified in inflicting the wound. The learned Judge, in aumnaing up, said that the three questions for the jury were,—\Vhether the deceased died from a wound given by the prisoner. If she deceased died from a wound given by the prisoner, was it an unlawful wound ? and the third question was, if they answered the two first questions in the affirmative, whether they thought the prisoner intended to do grievous bodily harm ; for that if they answered all the three questions in the affirmative the prisoner would be guilty of murder ; but if they merely thought that he intended to wound him unlawfully, they would find him guilty of manslaughter; but that they could hardly acquit the prisoner, as the law said that a person had no right to have recourse to the use of a weapon unless it was necessary to defend his life, which could not be said in this case. The jury found the prisotter guilty of manslaughter. The learned Judge, in sentencing the prisoner, said that he hoped that the sentence he was about to pass on him would be a warning to other men who were given to drink ing, which hAti changed him in a few hours from a man holding a respectable position, with a good character, into a felon; but, considering that the surgeon had statcd that the blow was given with great violence, he must sentence him to six years' penal servitude. Mr. Henry Hoare and His " Ten Men in Limbo," .....---- --_..4,,,__-_--.. (From the South Eastern Gazctte.) At a special petty sessions, held at the Vestry-hall, on Thursday last, Mr Henry Hoare, ono of the churchwardens of the parish of Staplehurst, made an application for the committal for trial at the quarter sessions of Mr John Vidler Hickmott, postmaster of Staplohurst, for refusing to com ply with an order which had been made on him by the Cranbrook bench of magistrates, at the September sitting of the present year, to pay a sum of 7s. lid. church rates, to gether with 12s. 6d, costs. Mr Barrow, barrister of the Home Circuit, appeared for Mr Hoare, and Mr Bennett, of London, for Mr llickmott. It will be remembered that ten ratepayers of the parish of Staplehurst were summoned before the bench in September last for nonpayment of church rates—among them was Mr Hickmott. None of the ten appeared in answer to their names on being called, and after the usual proofs of service of the summonses, &0., their worships made an order on each for payment of the respective sums demanded, toge ther with costs. These orders had not been complied with and hence the present proceedings. The case caused con siderable excitement, and there wore a large number of per sons in the courtroom. Amongst these were the Rev. T. A. Carr, vicar of Cranbrook—tho Rev. J. Spurgeon, the Rev. E. Bailey, the Rev. R. Shilley, W. Jull, Esq. Mr Barrow, in opening the case, said there could be no doubt that if any person was guilty of disobedience to the order of a magistrate, he committed an indictable offence, just as much as if he committed felony or misdemeanour, and stool liable to be committed to gaol fox it, He did not ask their worships to do this in the present instance—he stmply asked that Mr Ilickmott might be held to bail in his own sureties to answer any indictment which might be preferred against him at the quarter sessions touching this matter. He quoted two cases in precedent, one in Russell, and the other the Queen against Biddley, which was heard in 1846, and judgment delivered in 1847. In the present case there had been a delay of three months, in order to give the defendant time to make some arrangement for the payment of the money, but he declined to pay the amount. The learned gentleman concluded by asking their worship to hold the defendant to bail to appear to answer the charge at the quarter sessions. Mr 11. J. Ferrate c'erk to the magistrates, presented a copy of the depositions taken at the September sessions. Ho proved that five magistrates were then present, and as defendant did not appear in answer to his name, after being three times called, the bench proceeded to hear evidenoe, at the conclusion of which they made an order on the defendant for the payment of 7s lid, together with the sum of 12s 6d costs. The practice at the bench, he said, was to issue summonses in duplicate, one of which was served on the defendant and the other retained, and both were signed by the magistrates before whom they were drawn. In this case two were delivered to Williams for service as usual. Samuel Williams deposed to having served a summons, and also a minute of the magistrates' order. William Peters also served a copy of the order on the defendant personally on Nov. 30. Mr Henry Hoare said he was ono of the churchwardens of the parish of Staplehurst, and it was at his instance that the information against the defendant in September was made. He was present when Peters served a copy of the justice's order on the defendant on Nov. 30, and he de manded payment of the sum of 7s lid, and 12s Gil costs. Defendant did not pay, and he (Nlr Hoare) told him he would give him a week or 10 days to consider the matter, and then would call again. He called on the defendant on Dec. 10th inst., but he did not pay the money. Cross-examined by Mr Bennett—l believe Mr Hoare that you then told the defendant you thought you should distrain on his goods? Mr Hoarel did so, but I have since altered my mind, Mr Bennett—l suppose Mr Hiekmott has sufficient goods to cover the amount if you had distrained on them, sufficient to pay this sum of 7s 1.141 and 12s Gd costs? Mr Hoare—l expect he has. Mr Bennett—You know he has. I suppose you prefer this course ? Mr lioare=l am acting under advice. Mr Bennett—Do you know what the result of this course may turn out to be ? Mr Hoare—l suppose I shall get the money. Mr Bsnnett—You know better, sir. You want his body, and you prefer sending him to gut to getting the money. The order made out by the magistrates directs that if the sum of money therein named is not paid within a certain time you shall levy and distrain on the c.:efondant's goods and chattels. What is the reason, sir, that you have not followed the latter alternative of this order, and made your distraint P • Mr Hoare—l have not levied because I did not choose to do so. Mr Bennett—l believe, Mr Hoare, that Mr B ickmof tis one of the ten men (where are the nine ?) of whom you spoko at the Church Congress at Bristol as having them in limbo ? Mr Hoare—Yes, he IE. Mr IL‘noett—Da you know what limbo moans l'qr lloarc—l thought I had bot them there. Mr Bennett—l think your remarks were not very favour ably received there, were they ? The meeting rather hissed at your remarks, did it not, and Canon Girilestone said something afterwards, I think, about your course of pro ceeding not being exactly calculated to bring men into the fold of the church ? Mr Hoare—Well, I believe what you say is true; there wore between 2,000 and 3,000 persons present, and some little manifestation unfavourablo to my remarks was made. Mr Bennett—Under whose advice aro you now acting in taking the present proceedings? Mr Hoare—Partly under the advice of Mr Barrow, and partly on my own. Mr Bennett then said that he had the honour to appear for Mr Hickmott in this monstrous proceeding, a proceed ing which reminded us of a state of things which existed two or three hundred years ago. The course now taken by Mr Hoare and his adviser carried us back to a period of in tolerance, prosecution, and imprisonment. In all times the laws had been severe enough, but iu this enlightened age an almost universal desire was evinced to soften and amelior ate all descriptions of punishment. The legislature had, in its wisdom, framed statutes for the repeal of the laws which, at one would hang a man for sheep-stealing or such offences, but Mr Hoare, in taking this proceeding, was pur suing a course in diametrical opposition to the times, and which was analogous to the tyranny of the barbarous ages. Besides, instead of Mr Hickmott having violated the law, it was Mr Hoare who had done so, by not obeying the dictates of the order issued by the magistrates. This order set torch that if the sum of 7s 111, together with 12s ca costs, was not paid on demand being made, then a distraint should be made on the goods and zhattels of the person so refusing to pay ; but instead of adopting this the only legal alternative, Mr Hoare came forward and pursued a course which was contrary to the wishes and feelings of the enlightened public. The learned gentleman then cited the cases of two persons who had been imprisoned under proceed ings which had been taken in the ecclesiastical court, when the legislature interfered, and the wen were released, and steps were takes to prevent a recurrence of such an event by the adoption of the alternative of distraint. But here came Mr Hoare, and voluntarily attempted to render that salutary provision odious and abortive ; and why did he (Mr Hoare) select Mr Hickmott as a victim,to his bigotry and intolerance ? Simply because ho knew that as a public man and• a servant of the Government his imprisonment would be likely to prove more fatal than to any other of the "limbo ten." Why had he not selected his (Mr Bennett's) friend, Mr Jull? Mr Jull would have been most happy to have gone to gaol, and no doubt he would have improved his fine, keen, and clear intellect there. But no, this would not do; Mr Hickmott must be the victim. The order, however, was bad on the face of it. The rate was due—that nobody denied ; but there was another church warden, Mr Mannering, who was equally entitled to receive the money with Mr Hoare. The defendant had a right to go and pay the money to Mr Mannering if he thought fit, and that gentleman had a right to receive it. No evidence had been brought before the court to,prove that the money had not been paid by the defendant to Mr Mannering. He therefore submitted that they had no locus standi, that the court could not commit under the order, and that there was no case before the oourt. Would the magistrates, then, allow these proceedings of Mr Hoare to be carried out in order to gratify his peculiar vanity ? Let him (Mr Hoare) if he liked prefer au indictment at the Quarter Sessions. He (Mr Bennett) believed that there was not a bishop of the realm, or hardly half a dozen persons in this country, who would give countenance to such a miserable course as this proceeding really inculcated. The magistrates retired, and after a short deliberation; returned into court, when Capt. Oakes said—We have considered the matter which has been placed before us, and we decline to commit Mr Hickmott for trial. Mr Barrow—We only wanted him bound over. Capt. Oakes—lt is a criminal charge. Mr Bennett protested against Mr Barrow making a speech after the magistrates had given their decision. Mr Barrow—We shall go to the sessions. The proceedings th , n terminated. A letter from Oran announces that a mutiny oc. curred on the 24th ult. on board the English ship Daisy, lying in the roadstead of Arzew. The captain was wounded, and obliged to take refuge on land. The English vice-con. sul at Oran, on being informed of the fact, went to Arzew, and caused four of the ringleaders to be arrested by the local authorities. The prisoners were taken to Oran, and there embarked on the 6th 'inst. on board a steamer bound for Gibraltar, to be tried by the Admiralty Court there. [ADVERTISE➢iENT.] Holloway's Pills,— Source of Strength.—No deep philosophy is wanted to prove that health and vigour depend upon the purity of the blood; yet how few act upon this truth compared with the many who neglect themselves and lay the foundations of the most formidable complaints, when a few doses of these purifying pills would give them instant comfort and future health. Holloway's is no palliative treatment, but the most search ing and fundamintal weans of redressing all wrongs in the stomach, liver, kidneys, and throughout the circulatory and nervous systems. Holloway's pills are most admirably adapted for a family medicine, since the most youthful, delicate, and susceptible may fearlessly take them when more violent measures would be highly dangerous. The Fatal Gas Explosion at Manchester. An inquest was held on Monday on the bodies of Samuel Crowther, photographer, Peter street, aged 39 years, and his son Arthur, aged two years, who were killed by an explosion of gas in Peter-street, Manchester, on Saturday. Mr Thomas Torkington, beerhouse keeper, Deans gate, said that he was passing the deceased's shop in Peter-street, at a quarter past 5 o'clock on Saturday evening, and when about a yard from the window he heard a loud explosion, saw a flash of light, and the glass flew out. Simultaneously the deceased's wife rushed through the door as though the explo sion was forcing her. Witness ran into the house, but when he got to the middle door, a smell of sul phur overpowered him, and he crept on his hands and knees. He got into the back kitchen where the deceased worked, and he found the child, whose clothes were burning. He carried it into the street, and a woman took it away. Witness went into the room a second time, and found the father in a kneel ing position, dead, with his head against some bricks and debris of the wail. Witness procured assistance, and the body was removed. On examining the pre mises about an hour after the explosion, he found the gable end at the back almost completely blown out, and the place was in ruins. Samuel Wm. Crow ther, an intelligent little boy, eight years old, said that he was in the back kitchen with his father, who was making gas from a retort which was on the fire. His father had placed some manganese in the retort, to which he screwed the metal pipe. He then placed it on the fire, and after it had been there about ten minutes he told witness to go out of the room. He did so, washed his hands at a water tub in the yard, and while there a spark fell just before him. He imme diately ran through an iron gate into the street. The explosion took place es he passed through the gate. I .Vttness's brother Arthur was playing in the kitchen while his father was watching the retort. After his father had taken the man ganese from the paper bag, witness placed the bag by the side of the fireplace in the front shop. The bag produced was the one that he placed there.—Mr. Morris Hughes, joiner and pho tographer, Dorset-street, Broughton-rood, said he had made some apparatus for the deceased to ex• hibit lighted oxygen gas, and he called at deceased's hone° on Saturday afternoon, at half-past four o'clock, Oxygen was produced by mixing certain proportions of manganese and chlorate of potash, heated in the fire in an iron retort, When witness was at deceased's house, an order came from Mr Morgan, Market-place, for some oxygen gas, as Mr Morgan had had a "blow up," and the gas was wanted that evening. Deceased said he had no apparatus ready, and he thought he should not " bother with it," as he had no " stuff " in the house.—MrJohn (Yoder, Macclesfield-street, Hulnael said he worked for Mr Morg ,n, optician, Market place. About four on Saturday, witness went to the deceased's shop and ordered some oxygen gas for an exhibition which was to take place that even ing at the Pendleton Mechanics' Institute. The de ceased said he could not make it, as his apparatus and chemicals were at Leeds. If, however, Mr Morgan could find a retort, the deceased said he would accommodate him. Witness procured a mer cury retort from Mr Mottershead's, chemist, and as it required a tube, he got one from Mr Morgan's' workshop, which was bent, and witness thought it suitable for the purpose. Mr Morgan gave the witness about 81b. of manganese end potash, mixed, and witness tech it, with the retort and tube, to the deceased's shop. In accordance with Mr Mcr gau's instructions, witncss got another pound of manganese at Mr Motterbhead's, and gave it to Mr Crowther, as Mr Morgan thought that the mixture required a little more of that article. Mr Crowther said he would add that pound of manganese to the other. Witness delivered the apparatus and the chemicals to the deceased at five minutes to five o'clock. Professor Roscoe, of 0 wen's College, said that having seen the report of the explosion in that morning's newspapers, and being interested in all matters relating to the manufacture of gas, he wrote to Captain Palin, the chief constable, for permission to make a complete investigation of the case. The permission was given him, and be visited the scene of the explosion. He obtained a bag containing a black substance which had been found in the fireplace of the deceased's shop. On examining it at his laboratory, he found that it was composed of chlorate of potash, manganese, and powdered coal, or possibly lampblacklor soot. He thought it most likely that it was lampblack or soot which had been added for the purpose of adul. terating the manganese. He had reason to know that such adulteration took place, and that accident sometimes resulted from it. A case happened about a year ago, but fortunately did not result in personal injury, the explosion occurring from the circumstance that what purported to be manganese was nothing but powdered coal. The addition of powdered coal, soot, or lampblack to manganese made a substance about as explosive as gunpowder. A proper mixture for oxygen was about three parts of the chlorate of potash to one of manganese. He had not thoroughly analysed the substance found in the bag at the deceased's house, except that it contained the articles ho had named, and that it was explosive, He carefully examined three lots of manganese furnished to him by Police-constable Davenport. One lot, which was stated to be from Mr Morgan's, from which that was taken to make the mixture sent to Mr. Crowther, was adulterated with about 25 per cent. of soot or powdered coal— ho believed it to be soot. Another lot, furnished by Mr E. C. Hughes, druggist, Catcaton-street, from which Mr Morgan had said he purchased the man ganese, was pure—and a third lot, procured at Mr Mottershean's, was also pure. The adulteration of manganese with soot and coal was becoming very common, and it was accompanied with serious effects. At this season a great number of persons might b 3 making gas from manganese, to be used in picto:ial and other exhibitions ; and if the man ganese was not pure very serious consequences, as in:the present casa;might ensue. An accident might happen to his students, Rho were constantly work ing among such chemicals, both at the college and at . ,home. They might even purchase some of this very material, and be seriously injured. Bearing all these things in mind, he thought it was his duty to come forward and state the result of his inves tigations. Mr Morgan said that having an exhibition at the Pen dleton Mechanics' Institute which would require the use of oxygen gas, he commenced at half-past 3 o'clock on Satur day afternoon to make some of that gas. After he had made a small quantity, which he found was not sufficient, ho sent his boy to Mr Hughes' shop for the usual quantity of chlorate of potash and oxide of manganese. He stated " usual quantity" because Mr Hughes knew that ho was in the habit of purchasing it in proportions of 71bs of potash to 3lbs of manganese. The boy returned with two parcels, one containing fibs of the chlorate of potash, and the other can taining 3lbs of manganese. Witness placed about man ganese in a parcel by itself, and mixed the remainder with the chlorate of potash. He then took about lib of the mix ture, placed it in a sheet-iron retort, and proceeded to make the gas in the usual way. After the retort had been on the fire about a minute it exploded. Witness's right hand was injured, and tLe room was filled with smoke. He was not a chemist, but he had made oxygen gas about 12 years, and thinking that he might make a mistake as to the proper pro portion of manganese he told his man to get another pound to be add_ :d to the mixture that was spared, and to take the whole to Mr Crowther. 'Witness also thought that the ex plosion might have occurred from a stoppage in the metal or indiarubber pip-, which conducted the gas from the re tort to the purifier. The materials with which he made the first lot of gas, and which was manufactured without acci dent, were also got at Mr Hughes's shop. In addition to the chemical mixture which witness sent to Mr Crowther, Ito also forward,:d a purifier and connexions to two gas begs, but they were not used, as Mr Crowther had a bottle (puri fier) of his own. Witness saw Mr Crowther at a quarter past five, and Mr Crowther told him that the gas was being made, and that it would be ready in 15 minutes. When witness heard of the explosion on Saturday night, he said to his wife that it was the sscond that had occurred from the use of the same mixture—he thought there must be some. thing wrong with that mixture, Ho called at Mr Hughes's SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. TIMES.—Any statement of American finance ad dressed to the English intelligence comes with two important qualifications—first, the high rate of in terest borne by American debt, and rendering it really equivalent to a much larger amount of obli gation; secondly, the fact that as most of the-debt is in paper, it runs no small risk of never being repaid in any other form. Bat we will take the figures as they stand, only substituting pounds sterling for dollars, at the rate of five donates a pound sterling. On the Ist of July, then, the public debt was £348,000,000. The Custoths' receipts during the year ending July 1 amounted to £20,400,000; the internal revenue to £21,000,000; and the receipts from " miscellaneous sources," including a trifling sum from land sales and another from direct taxes, to £9,714,800. The proceeds of loans during the year amounted to £124,600,000. The aggregate expenditure of the year was £173,000,000, or about half a million pounds sterling a day. These figures are formidable enough. They are formidable in their amount, and still more in their proportions. In our own Russian war, which was no trifle, we made rather a point of dividing the extraordinary expense between loans and extraordinary taxation, taking half on ourselves and leaving half to future years. The Federal Government, upon their own showing, in the yeas ending July last only raised by taxation about £43,000,000, against three times that sum raised by loans, and after all did not meet the year's expenditure by £6,200,000, Even that year, however, was moderate indeed compared with the current year, Including the interest of the public debt, the expenses to be provided for in the twelve month ending July next amount to £233,600,000, which our readers need scarcely be told is consider. ably more than three times that annual expenditure which we are daily told at home is a crime and a scandal to this country, and which, accordingly, our governmenl is doing its best to cut down. The United States' Treasury has to raise in one year a sum nearly equal to the third of our own National Debt. How that is to be done is a problem past the large experience even of British finance. Mr. Fessenden refers to Congress, and appeals to the conscience and patriotism of his fellowecitizens to allow taxation to yield its full produce, as if thus far it had disappointed fair estimates. He suggests whether the income tax should not be levied on every income, But even putting the produce of taxes for the current year far higher than it proved for the last,after availing himself of certain borrowing powers, which are not explained, he estimates the deficit to be provided by loans at £81,000,000. After the wonders already achieved, and apparently a matter of pride rather than dismay to the American imagination, we must not venture to doubt that this sum will be raised too. Mr Fessenden deprecates, in a tone of national self-respect, an appeal to foreign borrowers. He would prefer to see the money raised in the Union itself, and does not see why it should not be, especially as he thinks we need only con template one year longer of war. By the let of next July Mr Fessenden estimates the public d e bt a t £529,000,000. The inadequacy of existing resources, however, long felt severely, is now confessed by the extraordinary nature of the expedient by which it is proposed to add to them. It is introduced as a matter of patriotism and political well-being rather than finance, and therefore by the P . m resent rather than by the Secretary. Mr Lincoln is very naturally of opinion that the present respon sibility and interest of the war, and also its final risks, ought to be shared by every citizen, so that all may bear its burden, and the loss, if that is to be, shall be one common to the whole community. The scheme is so novel that we quote the very words. After stating the enormous total of the pree sent debt, and its probable increase this year, Mr Lincoln 'proceeds :—" Held as it is for the most part by our own people—a substantial branch of national though private property—for obvious reasons, the more equally this property Can be distributed among the people the better. To fav our suc h ge n e r a l distribution greater inducements - to become owners might perh a p s , with good effect, and without Injury, be pre sented to parsons of limited means. With this view I suggest whether it might not be both com petent and expedient for Congress to provide that a limited amount of some future issue of public secu rities might be held by any bona fide purchasers exempt from taxation and from seizure for debt, under such restrictions and limitations as might be necessary to guard against abuse of so important a privilege. 'Phis wcu:d enable every prudent person to set aside a small annuity against a possible day of want. Privileges like these would render the possession of such securities to the amount limited most desirable to every person of small means, who might bo able to save enough for this purpose. The great advantage of citizens bein, creditors as well ra debtorswith relation to the public debt is obvious. Men readily perceive they cannot be much oppressed by a debt which they owe to themselves." As the scheme is only sketched in the rudest outline, rather by its object, its results, and its moral and political bearings than in the form of a measure, we must deal with it as we find it; as a phantom in the future of American finance. Whatever the modus operandi, here arc two substantial realities, and two sides of a bargain. The Treasury is to gain a great number of " sums from citizens supposed to be of small means or small incomes; out of that transac tion there is supposed to arise a class of small pen sioners with an inalienable claim on the Treasury. In this indistinct and shadowy form, we cannot help fancying a resemblance between this expedient and one of which the British nation has seen the begin ning and the end. At the beginning of this century it was thought an object of, the highest policy to promote by all means the increase of our population, that being our weak point in the European scale. Hence every inducement was offered to marriage and large families, by the national pledge of a suffi , dent maintenance, with or without work, to every child thatshould be born. Forty years ago every child was born with a fortune of 2s. a week, or five pounds a year, to begin with, and the power of in creasing it to any extent by a suitable marriage. It was found eventually that, whatever may be said of a select class of genteel pensioners, there is a point beyond or below which pensions arc injurious to the personal character and the social system. In fact work, hard work, is so disagreeable that when the class usually compelled to it is re leased from the necessity, it no longer works, and takes to evil courses, We all know that a man paid to do nothing Is very apt to go to the bad. Such then, as it appears to us, is the class which it is proposed to saddle on the Federal Treasury as the legacy of the war. We ca nno t b e li eve th a t the class is compatible with American institutions, end therefore we cannot conceive it ever being forced on the Union. That being the case we see no chance of success for an expedient appealing to habits and tastes that do not exist. Some day it will have to be described, and it ma y then wear a more practie cal character ; but at present it only seems to bee tray a dreary misgiving that the time must come at last when all must contribute to pay the enormous debt of the war, by cheerfully consenting to sure render their claims as pubic creditors. HERALD.—In the year 1864, the fourth year of the American civil war, mans desperate attempts have been made by the Government of Mr Lincoln to penetrate the tough hide of the Southern Confe deracy. Vast armaments have been launched by land and sea at supposed vul nera bl e p o ints in an area so extensive that in our eastern h em i s phere it ,vsued count half a continent. And yet Richmond, Charleston, and Mobile are still virgin forttesses. The result of these costly expeditions, from which so much has been expected, has been so , uniformly disappointing to their sanguine promoters that the President of the North, with his inevitable destiny before him, girding up hi s l o i ns f or t h a t o th er f our years , struggle which the voice of his people has chosen him for the .esepress purpose of carrying through to the bitter end, finds in none of them any cause of congratulation, any laurel twig of- triumph to present to Congress. Turning disconsolately from his great army so impractically wedged between the James and the Appomattox, looking askance at his great fleet before impotent the despised defences of Charleston and Mobile, and scarcely able to interrupt the trade of Wilmington, he finds a ray of hope in the distant contemplation of an enterprise so desperate in its conception, and so utterly dubious in its re sults, that even he, audacious as he is, cannot predict its issue. Tho eyes of the Preeident and of the whole people of the North are turned towards General Sherman in his march across Georgia. Is it, indeed, in these Southern swamps that is to be fought the last crowning battle for Union and independence ? Have the Northerners staked their last die on the success of this movement, condemned by every principle of war, on the answer to this fearful bid for victory or death ? There, somewhere to the north of Savannah, are Sherman and his 50,000. striving for the sea. Th ere , a ll round him and de fying him, are the swarms of Confederate soldiery thirsting for his destruction. Are these the Horatii and Curiatii on the result of whose encounter the rest of the Federals and Confederates are prepared to risk their fortunes, to whose brave arms they are willing to entrust their cause ? We would that it were so, f or f or Sh erman an d his army we can foresee nothing but' disaster. The best that can happen to him will be the accomplishment of a dis astrous retreat. The alternative is utter annibilas tion. As the Inying Waste of Georgia, by firing her citizens to frenzy, has_ put an end to all hope of reconquering this State for the Union, so the humiliating failure Of a campaign on which they have built all their hopes will madden the North into a more vindictive prosecution of the war. Their cry will no longer be for conquest, they will b“ satisfied with revenge. We seen to be entering upon Et long dark period of bloody war, for exter mination on one side, for dear life on the other, which will be.suffered to continue to such time as the other nations of the world shall begin to feet that America is not utterly without the pale of their sympathies. .1n New York, on Dec. 5, the latest reliable news of Sherman and his army was of the date of Nov. 24. Even this was obtained from Southern sources. For twelve days the whole of the North was as much in the dark as to the movements of these 50,000 men as if th eir general and his followers had been campaigni ng in the moon. Their anxiety, in the meanwhil e, must have risen to fever heat. What terrible sto r y lay hid under that veil of ignorance, what carnag e, what disasters , what grief to Northern mothers slid wives might be concealed by that shroud of dark * nese which made the worse that could happen see m more terrible in its awful mystery, they knew not . i yet, and perhaps even now do not know. But the grim work was going on and may be going on Hove. Every day 50,000 hungry souls to be fed. Every d ly the fieids made more impassable by rains, the swamps widening and deepening from a thousand rills. Every day the swarms of the enemy gather ing mere closely, and pressing more boldly on their stragglers, their rearguard, and their fl teks. Every day the wild Southern battle-cry ringing more loudly in the eats of these hunted fugitives. And that enemy will give them no mercy, because he owes them none. It will not be his fault if one re-. giment or one soldier reach the sea, dustworn and, bloody, like the courier from Ronceevalles, or the single survivor of that dread slaughter in Cahill- The . right wing of Sherman's army was formed by Howard's division ; the left was commanded by Slocum. On Nov. 20 the rear of Howard's advance made an unsuccessful attack on a redoubt near Macon, and was pursued to Griswoldville, a station on the railway, 10 miles east of that city. On the 23d Howard attempted to r cross the Oconnee River at Toomsboro, 30 miles further to the east, and about the same distance south of Milledgeville. It seems that Howard succeeded at first in fording the river four miles below the bridge, but was oblige d to recross by an attack on his rear by Wheeler 8 cavalry, which had crossed 18 miles lower down for that purpose. Down to the night of the 24th Gen. Howard was to the west of the Oconnee River. It was supposed that Slocum was endeavouring to form a junction with him, but it was doubtful whether he would succeed, as the Confederate Gen. Wayne was on the left bank of the Oconnee, confronting Howard. From this date all is rumour, and we have no further authentic news of Sherman's movements. It was reported that Wheeler had twice engaged his cavalry, and had been signally victorious, It was further reported that Sherman's army had at length croased the Oconnee, but when, where, or how, is not known. Supposing the whole army to have been at Toomsboro on the 24th, it had °cote pied 12 days in marching 80 miles. It was at a diss tance of 150 miles from the sea-coast at Savannah , 170 from DArien, at the mouth of the Oconnee. If we are to credit the latest report, for which there seems to be no 'foundation beyond the sanguine imaginations of Northern journalists, that the ad' vance guard of the army has reached Millen, on the Georgian Central Railroad, it will still be 80 mile! from Savannah, a place so strongly garrisoned and defended that it cannot hope to take it. Sherri:mot as we at first anticipated, may be aiming at Beau fort, where his army might effect a junction with • the garrison of Port Royal. From Millen to this point there would be 150 miles of almost impassable country before him. From Charleston to Savannah, about 120 miles, the railway passes across the swamps on a succession of trestle bridges. Poco taligo Bridge is about halfway between these towns and duo north of Beaufort. At this point General Foster, sallying forth from Beaufort, has cut the line of railway, with the intention of aiding Sher" man. There is still a line from Charleston to Augusta beyond the reach of the Federals. If Foster intended to move eastward to effect a junction with Sherman, he was disappointed. A Confederat e force from Grahamsville, west of Pocotaligo, met him and drove him back as he was feeling his We/ in this direction. Wherever Sherman may go t i t seems that there is an enemy in strong force In front of him. The success of his movement will be the evacuation of Georgia, but he is so surrounde d thet ifdoes not seem likely that he will be able to save his army. -Not only Georgia, but Tennessee , is slipping from the feeble grasp of this Federal Napoleon and his lieutenants. General Hood le laying siege to Nashville. The garrison of Chat' tanooga is cut off from all assistance. Gillem is he' leagured in Knoxville, with the remnant of h ie army. Ere the close of the year the camp of Grant) in Virginia, may be the only foothold left to the North•in all the wide regions from the Potomac to New Orleans. COUNTRY RKE T S. --''l-.--- LIVERPOOL-TUESDAY. There was a fair attendance of both town and counfrY millers and dealers at our market to-day, and a very business done, although a better feeling prevailed. 'Wheat and flour in moderate request, at a slight advance in soule instances on the prices of last week. Oats and oatmeal at late prices, with a dull sale. Barley, beans, and peas wore unaltered. Indian corn neglected. M ON MO UTH—TUESDAY. The local markets have not been sb we ll attended by bo th buyers and sellers during the last six or seven deys, an d , there has been a limited business doing. English wile" maintained former rates, as also barley and oats. The The average quotations are as ollows : Wheat, white 5s 2d to 5s I d barley...... 3s 3d to 3s 8 ,1 Ditto red.....0s Od to Os Od Oats ....... 2s 2d to 2 s ° MARKET HARBOROUGH—TUESDAY. White wheat, 41s to 458 ; red, 38s t 01428 per 36 sto n tt Malting, barley at 31s to 338 per qr.; grinding, 27s to l n per 30 st. Oats, old, 26s to 28s; new, 233 to 25s per st. ; beans, 36s to 42s per qr. LEEDS—TUESDAY. The arrivals of English grain at our market this Week were not large. The demand for wheat to-day was stead!' , and last Tuesday's prices were not materially altered. Fi ne barley at about previous rates; inferior descriptions bad to quit. Oats and beans as of late. Averages—Dec. 19—Wheat 39s lid per qr. —Oats . 2ls 31d --- - —Beans 37s lltd —Peas ..-3 04 •-• —s d —Barley 308 lid _ CORK—TUESDAY. The following were the quotations this morning 64 wheat, 7s 6d to 8s ld ; white, 8s 4d t o 8 s 8d ; barley, 3d„ to 6s 10d Louts, os Od to 7s 3d ; bl ac k d o ., 68 p 1 L 0 Os 7d.; bere, -14 Od. Foreign Mail Packet List. MAILS DUE. tiustralia and Mauritius, via Southampton ..Dec. 19. via Marseilles .. Jan. 12 ' Brazil and Cape Verds, by British p a cket. Jan. 'A Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. Helena..De o. I ` s : China, Penang, and Singapore, via Southampton. Dec. ,)"./. via Marseilles ...Dee. °' Falkland Islands .. Gibraltar, via Southamptoi Dec. Lg. India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton Dee• ':',l' via Marseilles , Dec , ` I ; India (Bombay), via Southampton ..... . Dec. ‘' via Marseilles Dee. Portuga1.... 9. Malta, .E 1 gypt, and Aden, via Southampton Dee' 2 1 ' via Marseilles Dee. 1 Newfoundland ..Dee' 2 Oporto and Vigo . 2l. U. S. and British N. America, by Brit. packet.... Dec by U.S. packet.... 23 by Canadian packet...Deo . 10 , W.C. of Africa, Madeira, and Teneriffe Ja n. O. , West Indies and Pacific D ec. an. .• J o : Bahamas (via New York) Bermuda (ditto) Dee. ° ..De ° ' 29. Cuba and Mexico - The inland navigation of Holland is at Prel interrupted by frost. The steamer Telegraaf, whi ch et Rotterdam two days since for Antwerp, wa s unable to g farther than Dordrecht, Births. 101 4 BROMLEY,—On the 16th inst., at Wyndham Lo d g e ' ton Mowbray, Mrs. Davenport Bromley, of a son. 0. HAY.—On the 18th inst., at 33, Cadogan - Place , the 0° Mrs. Charles Hay, of a son. NEWTON.—On the 19th inst. , at 43, Lowndea-street, the wife of Major-General Newton, of a son. .1.,A ion. SIMEON.—On the 19th inst., at 72, Eaton-place, ...... Lady Simeon, of a daughter. Marriages. te r, TAYLOR—Wnrrcoma.—On the 20th inst , at G l o ves 11 ., Theophilus Taylor, Esq., of 70, Ebur.y-street, square, to Louisa, eldest daughter of John AubreY‘' coLabe, Esq., The Limes, Longford, Gloucester. b WEDDELL —HARRISON.-012 the 17th inst. , at Lai r f ,ll9o palish church, W. H. Weddell, Esq , of the AEa" and to Thamar, widow of the late John Harrison,Esq'' daughter of the late Capt. It. mellow, BARRON.—On - aged t 2 h 7 e . Bmiz e t e E r . B :- Deaths. the 161 inst , at Paris, Francis Dal% Esq., of Bilton Grange, Witrwickshire, late of the 1 tree , c Soho, Mr. Baillie, aged 78.. 18th inst., at 118, Wardour-s LONBROCK,—On the 17th at Cl brook Rola inst., on 3 11 0 , ig S. 0. Lady Clonbreek, aged 60. GARDINER.—On the 19th inst. , in ilhbury-place, Gardiner, Esq., aged 55. PELLy.—On the 20th inst., Sir J. Henry Pelly , of WoacTrue; hamn C9art, Sussex, and of U pto n, Essex, Baronet, o u PALLIER.—On the 17th inst., at Victorix-park, Dover, Major-General Henry Ptalit3a, R.A., aged 72. /..........L.mmm•••••••••••••••......•••••••••••••••••••• London: Prinzed and Printer, by WILLIAM AN D 10 . 6 1, of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at TuE Surf 01lice No- 11 Strand. in the. Precinct of the Savoy, .13 the C( untY 111ddleeex,—Wednetaday, December 21, I.f 64,